Removing a timer created with "systemd-run –on-calendar"
I’ve created a systemd job using systemd-run --on-calendar .... Now I’ve replaced it with proper .timer and .service files, but I’m not able to remove the old one. I can stop it and disable it, but when I call systemctl list-timers it still appears with its arbitrary name run-r0d0dc22.... I also looked for its .timer file, but I couldn’t find them.
The transient files end up in /run/user/ and do not seem to ever be removed until the user logs out (for systemd-run --user) or until a reboot, when /run is recreated.
For example, if you create a command to run once only at a given time:
systemd-run --user --on-calendar '2017-08-12 14:46' /bin/bash -c 'echo done >/tmp/done'
You will get files owned by you in /run:
/run/user/1000/systemd/user/run-28810.service
/run/user/1000/systemd/user/run-28810.service.d/50-Description.conf
/run/user/1000/systemd/user/run-28810.service.d/50-ExecStart.conf
/run/user/1000/systemd/user/run-28810.timer
/run/user/1000/systemd/user/run-28810.timer.d/50-Description.conf
/run/user/1000/systemd/user/run-28810.timer.d/50-OnCalendar.conf
For non --user the files are in /run/systemd/system/
You can remove the files, do a systemctl [--user] daemon-reload and
then list-timers will show only the Unit name, with their last history if they have already run. This information is probably held within systemd’s internal status or journal files.
The accepted answer (remove the files and do a daemon-reload) did not work for me – instead I was able to remove the timer using systemd --user stop unitfile; this might differ in that I was already using a unit file, however.
Because my question, ‘Systemd as at replacement’ has been marked as an “exact duplicate”, I shall delete it and post the content below.
I’d like to use systemd like at. I’ve created a unit file in ~/.config/systemd/user/say@.service which runs a shell script (passing “%I”), but am having trouble scheduling it. If I use systemd-run --user --unit say@'test message' --on-calendar='13:54' it keeps the timer active to run tomorrow as well, instead of deleting it once it has run.
How should I instruct systemd to run a unit file exactly once at a specific time today? I would like a solution which automatically cleans up the transient timer as well, so I don’t have to systemd --user stop say@'test message' afterwards.
Answer: I had to specify the full date. So – ... --on-calendar='2018-04-16 13:54:00'. This appears to clean up after itself properly as well.
I had to do
systemctl --user stop Remove_Me.{service,timer}
with systemd version 245 to remove the transient timer unit.
The {service,timer} part is a Bash feature: brace expansion
Iiridayn’s answer of running systemctl --user stop Remove_Me did not work for me, I got this:
Warning: Stopping Remove_Me.service, but it can still be activated by:
Remove_Me.timer
and the unit still showed up with systemctl --user list-timers *Remove*.
Reading meuh’s answer, I found the .timer and .service file in /run/user/1000/systemd/transient/. After deleting the files and doing systemctl --user daemon-reload there was still the Remove_Me.timer (but no Remove_Me.service) in the output of systemctl --user list-timers.
I got rid of that lingering timer by readding the unit with
systemd-run --user --on-calendar=2025-01-01 -u "Remove_Me" touch ~/test_file
and then removing it with
systemctl --user stop Remove_Me.{service,timer}
Now, systemctl --user list-timers *Remove* shows no units.